A new series hitting our screens this evening will follow three architects from South Wales as they design an upside-down house

A new series hitting our screens tonight will follow three architects from an award-winning practice in South Wales as they design an upside-down house.

Penarth-based Loyn and Co Architects was selected as one of five architectural companies in Britain to feature in series Building Dream Homes, which will show the drama, headaches and hard work it takes to design and build a home.

Project designer James Stroud, 28, said: “We are the only Welsh practice in the series so it was a huge honour to be chosen.”

The first of 15 episodes, which will be shown on BBC Two at 6.30pm today, will focus on a house in Dinas Powys.

The programme will follow owners Marianne and Jon Coupe as they embark on building the house they have spent years planning, with the reality of the scale of the project starting to hit home.

James, who has been working for the practice for six years, said: “It is a massive responsibility when you are trusted with someone’s life savings.”

He added: “When you watch some of the established programmes like Grand Designs you see very little of the important role that architects play in a project. But the relationship between the owners and the architects is an extremely important one.”

Filming for the series began last summer and the project designer admitted it was difficult to get used to being followed by a film crew – although colleague Chris Loyn has previously appeared on the small screen.

“It was strange to start with but I found the key was to forget the cameras were there,” said James.

The first programme will focus on the house in Dinas Powys, with later episodes travelling west to the Gower.

James, who joined the practice in 2008 after graduating with first-class honours in interior architecture from Oxford Brookes University, was the project designer for Stormy Castle on the Gower, which recently won an award from the Royal Society of Architects in Wales.

“We are really excited to see the programme on TV. We think it is great for Wales and great for architecture.

“I am hoping that the public will see the passion that we all have – we are extremely passionate about every single project, regardless of the size and scale,” said James.

“Filming has been a really enjoyable process, even though it has been stressful at times, andI would love to do it again.”

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.